Biden’s marijuana pardon falls short for many
President Joe Biden’s recent proclamation that he will pardon all federal convictions for people with possession of marijuana is a good first step, but it does not go far enough to reduce the crippling effects of mass incarceration.
The president’s clemency power is expected to affect 6,500 people who have federal convictions for simple marijuana possession. This federal decree is in line with many states on this issue as 19 have legalized recreational marijuana use and 38 provide for the medical use of marijuana despite it still being a federal crime to possess marijuana.
President Biden’s marijuana pardons are remarkably impotent in three significant ways.
First, the mass pardons do not apply to convictions for anyone who was convicted before 1992. So, for example, if someone was convicted for a federal possession of marijuana at 20 years old in 1990 (making them 52 years old today) they would not receive a pardon under the current rules. The same is true for anyone convicted earlier this year in 2022 — as the pardon is only being applied for convictions between 1992 and 2021. Why does President Biden believe that people who were convicted before 1992 and in 2022 do not need the same relief from the collateral consequences of a federal marijuana conviction?
People who were convicted before 1992 are job seekers, housing applicants; they want to be able to protect themselves and provide for their families; and they want the ability to apply for small business loans without having to explain a decades-old felony conviction.
Second, President Biden’s mass pardon does not affect people who were convicted of nonviolent sales or distribution of marijuana. Many of the people who possessed marijuana received it from friends and people whom they knew well from their community. These sellers were often supplementing a low-paying job by providing a non-lethal drug to people who used marijuana to manage depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, aches and pains, and other significant ailments.
The billion-dollar business of marijuana is thriving today in America. In many states — including New York State — all someone needs to distribute marijuana is a license and the capital to distribute. It is now legal in many parts of the country to distribute the same marijuana for which we have imprisoned tens of thousands, many of whom were disproportionately Black and brown, for many years in the prime of their lives. Marijuana distributors, as with possessors, deserve the same second chance as more and more Americans have accepted and voted for the principle that marijuana should be legal and accessible for everyone.
Third, people who are not citizens do not obtain pardon relief under Biden’s proclamation.
For migrants one of the devastating consequences of a felony conviction is that they are forever banned from entering the United States and obtaining citizenship. This can disrupt the unification of families and people seeking to build a life in America who are fleeing from an oppressive, corrupt foreign regime. Because Biden’s pardon only applies to people who are citizens or legal permanent residents, many migrants will be denied relief as a refugee or asylum seeker if they were in America and convicted for simple marijuana possession before they obtained lawful status.
While Biden’s mass pardon is a good first step it unfairly denies relief to older people with marijuana convictions, recent people with 2022 marijuana convictions or who are currently facing prosecution, distributors and sellers of marijuana, and migrants, many of whom are seeking asylum relief. The failure to provide relief to these groups only exacerbates the ill-effects of mass incarceration that disproportionately effect low-income communities and people of color.
President Biden should revisit this proclamation and provide greater relief for those people who must forever suffer the collateral consequences of a federal marijuana conviction. With the stroke of a pen, Biden can and should make a bolder pronouncement on marijuana convictions and pardon a broader group of people suffering from marijuana convictions.